1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to diagnostic systems and more specifically it relates to a brain injury diagnostic system for providing a quick and accurate assessment of various accident scenarios and an accurate brain injury diagnosis.
Individuals in the medical profession encounter patients that have suffered injuries as a result of vehicle accidents, slip and falls, falling objects and various other scenarios. These individuals often incur mild traumatic brain injury that may not immediately demonstrate any physical symptoms noticeable to the physician or patient.
Traumatic brain injuries are caused by energy being transferred to the individual""s head. These forces cause the brain to move. For example, traumatic brain injuries may occur when a contact force is applied directly to the head or when forces are transmitted through the neck without direct contract thereby causing the head to move at a velocity different from the rest of the body. The result of exterior forces upon the head often include stresses applied to the brain and deformation of the brain which can damage the neuronal, vascular, and cytoskeletal structures.
Because often there are no immediate physical symptoms of brain injury, individuals that may have such an injury missed or misdiagnosed by a treating physician. Hence, there is a need for a diagnostic system that allows medical professionals to quickly and accurately assess whether a patient has incurred an injury to the brain so that timely and appropriate treatment for may be provided to the patient.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Brain injury diagnostic tools have been in use for years. Conventional brain injury diagnostic tools are based upon various engineering and medical disciplines which are well-founded and will not be discussed in detail. A well respected source of information regarding the topic of traumatic brain injuries is Head Trauma Cases: Law and Medicine (Second Edition, 1997) by Dr. A. C. Roberts which is published by John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Typically, these diagnostic tools consider the type, direction, magnitude, and duration of force applied to the head. Conventional diagnostic tools also consider regions of the brain affected since different brain regions have different directional sensitivities, structural, and functional tolerances.
The primary problem with conventional brain injury diagnostic tools is that they generally require a lengthy period of time to calculate and make a medical diagnosis. This can be extremely costly to a patient with a traumatic brain injury. In addition, conventional brain injury diagnostic tools require the attending physician to determine whether a traumatic brain injury is present. Often these injuries do not present until hours or days after an accident occurs thereby leading to misdiagnosis. When a patient has incurred a brain injury from forces indirectly applied to the head, such as when the neck forces the head in a different direction, physicians often have no visible sign of injury to the head region and may not pursue the possibility of a traumatic brain injury.
There are numerous medical diagnosis systems and devices that have been attempted to improve upon conventional methods. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,366 to Tacklind et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,717 to Halpern et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,552 to Sakai; U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,871 to Burrows; U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,823 to Wood et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,738,102 to Lemelson; U.S. Pat. No. 5,782,878 to Morgan et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,855 to Brown; U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,211 to Flego et al. all are illustrative of such prior art.
Tacklind et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,366) discloses a system for monitoring and reporting medical measurements. Tacklind et al. specifically teaches a monitor for storing data records comprising measured values and time stamps and for transmitting the records to a remote reporting unit over a communication system. The remote reporting unit includes a relational database that is updated when records are downloaded from the monitor, a report generator, and a report transmitting unit for transmitting reports to a requesting health care provider.
Halpern et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,717) discloses a patient monitoring system with chassis mounted or remotely operable modules and portable computer. Halpern et al. specifically teaches at least one chassis, a plurality of patient care modules associated with the chassis, and a portable computer for communicating with and controlling the modules. The chassis continuously polls the module for patient data collected by the module.
While these compositions may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for providing a quick and accurate assessment of various accident scenarios and an accurate brain injury diagnosis. Conventional brain injury diagnostic devices are extremely time consuming and require the health care provider to first inquire into whether a brain injury has occurred. They typically rely solely upon demonstrable physical symptoms of a brain injury like memory loss or other symptoms.
In this respect, the proposed brain injury diagnostic system departs substantially from the conventional methods of use and compositions of the prior art. In doing so, provides a composition and a method of using the composition primarily developed for the purpose of providing a quick and accurate assessment of various accident scenarios and an accurate brain injury diagnosis.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of medical diagnostic devices and systems present in the prior art, the present invention provides a new brain injury diagnostic system wherein the same can be utilized to provide a quick and accurate assessment of various accident scenarios and an accurate brain injury diagnosis.
The general purpose of the present invention, described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new brain injury diagnostic system that has many of the advantages of the medical diagnostic systems mentioned heretofore and many novel features and functions that result in a new brain injury diagnostic system which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art medical diagnostic systems, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention generally comprises the process of collecting data at the accident site or from an emergency room, entering the collected data into a computer, transferring the collected data to a central computing facility through a communication system, conducting a biomechanical analysis of the collected data at the central computing facility, determining the results of the biomechanical analysis, transferring the results to the computer, and displaying the results upon a computer monitor of the computer preferably prior to the patient""s arrival at the emergency room. Based upon the displayed results, health care providers can then make an informed decision regarding the proper treatment for the patient. The results of a biomechanical analysis may include the probability of brain injury to the patient, 3-dimensional or 2-dimensional animations showing the patient""s sequential body motion, a graphical representation of a possible location for any brain injuries, and specific comments concerning the biomechanical analysis. The results of a biomechanical analysis are calculated utilizing well-known biomechanical formulas and algorithms. It can be appreciated that the present invention may be utilized to analyze various other types of bodily injuries beyond brain injuries. The present invention allows for all health care providers around the world to have instant access to results from an accurate biomechanical analysis while within the emergency room thereby allowing them to properly treat the patient. The total number of emergency room computers capable of communicating with the central computing facility is virtually unlimited thereby allowing health care providers at all levels to provide accurate patient evaluations.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and that will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of the description and should not be regarded as limiting.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a brain injury diagnostic system that will overcome the shortcomings of the prior art.
Another object is to provide a brain injury diagnostic system that provides a quick and accurate assessment of various accident scenarios and an accurate brain injury diagnosis.
An additional object is to provide a brain injury diagnostic system that may be utilized by health care providers in various locations throughout the world.
A further object is to provide a brain injury diagnostic system that provides a central location that quickly determines whether a traumatic brain injury likely occurred to a patient.
Another object is to provide a brain injury diagnostic system that increases the accuracy of the medical diagnosis of a patient with a traumatic brain injury.
An additional object is to provide a brain injury diagnostic system that provides a diagnosis based upon data collected immediately at the accident site or directly from an emergency room.
A further object is to provide a brain injury diagnostic system that instantly displays the diagnostic results in an easy to understand format for an attending physician.
Another object is to provide a brain injury diagnostic system that can be utilized by any health care provider 24 hours a day.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become obvious to the reader and it is intended that these objects and advantages are within the scope of the present invention.
To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, this invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that changes may be made in the specific use illustrated and described within the scope of the appended claims.